Hosts South Africa have today (December 10, 2019) officially announced their squad for the 2020 U19 Cricket World Cup. The Baby Proteas will be captained by Bryce Parsons, but there are some puzzling omissions, most notably Ruan Terblanche, the Boland star who played six of their seven ODI’s against Pakistan U19 earlier this year and also scored a century against the visitors.

North West wicketkeeper Khanya Cotani will be Parsons’ deputy at the event. South Africa are in Group D alongside Afghanistan, Canada and the United Arab Emirates, a relatively straightforward group for Lawrence Mahlatlane’s men. Winning the group will send the Baby Proteas into a quarterfinal against the second placed team from Group A- most likely to be either New Zealand or Sri Lanka.

Apart from Parsons, all eyes will also be on Bishops Old Boy Jonathan Bird, the highly regarded WP batsman and young all rounder Gerald Coetzee, who sent down the most overs in the 2019/20 CSA Four Day series before it took a break for the Mzansi Super League.

Apart from Terblanche, other names that featured regularly for the U19s but are not in this squad include Imraan Philander, Akeem Minaar, Lifa Ntanzi and Mickey Copeland. The quintet all played three or more ODI’s when Pakistan toured South Africa earlier this year, but were not named in the final squad.

This is the second time South Africa are hosting the U19 CWC, having last hosted the tournament back in 1998.